Mo’ Mega features a bunch of tracks produced by El-P, so you know I’m down with this record. This, of course, is one of them, which you could probably guess by listening to it. It has all of the sci-fi feel you expect from his beats. As Mr. Lif is also always good, this album is worth checking out.
(NB: this song starts at 28:19)
[Read More]At first, I thought this was one of those random tracks that got sucked up into my music collection by an overly aggressive upload process in my past. But no, I appear to have this entire album. And, uh, I have no recollection of this record. Zero. It kind of sounds like somebody was trying to write an album to try and smuggle it into the rotation of a classic rock station. Also, Creeper Lagoon? Like, a reboot of Gilligan’s Island, only the tour was just Reddit users?
[Read More]On 2013’s The Terror, The Flaming Lips were using their psychedelia to explore not shiny wonder but the depths of despair. With Wayne Coyne’s romantic life falling apart and Steven Drozd again struggling with substance abuse, the Lips were not in a good place in their personal lives, and it comes through in the stark bleakness of their music. Piercing and melancholy, The Terror is one of their best records, although it’s not always a whole lot of fun.
[Read More]You know what? I remember this band being very, very Pavement-ish. Like, if you had asked me what they sounded like, I would have said something like “imagine Pavement, but shittier” or something equally facile. But, let’s face it, this isn’t Pavement-y at all! I mean, this is giving off some Robert Palmer kinda vibes here. Maybe I should listen to this album again? Maybe I should stop being a dipshit?
[Read More]I’ll have you know that I tried to insert a big ASCII barphic here saying “Josh is not qualified to talk about jazz”, but this stupid editor kept mangling it, and I’ll only go so far for a throwaway joke.
Is this the first Black Keys we’ve had? Brothers is the last Black Keys album I’ll have anything to do with. It’s a little strange - I like it quite a bit, there’s a lot of fun stuff on it, and I nevertheless didn’t even glance at the follow up to it. I’m not really sure why, exactly, but from reading reviews, it doesn’t seem like I’m missing much.
[Read More]So, uh, sometimes the sexual politics of Brown’s music wasn’t great. You know, it happens. I’ll just observe that Brown had a co-writer for this song, Betty Jean Newsome, which is kind of interesting.
(NB: on Star Time, this track has the above name, not “It’s A Man’s Man’s Man’s World”))
I don’t want to take too much away from the majesty of this pure slab of punk, so just enjoy.
[Read More]Have I talked about Springsteen before? I’m not gonna look. And nobody is going to tell me!
Uh, I don’t listen to a lot of his stuff. I only own this album. I dunno, you can’t keep up with everything! Don’t tell me about him!
Hell yes, look at that insight.
After the second wave of ska fired up, led by Two-Tone Records, interest in the first wave bands increased. The Skatalites, the greatest of those first wave bands, got back together in 1983 and recorded an amazing live set, featuring their entire original lineup, minus the sadly deceased Don Drummond. While I think the outstanding compiliation Foundation Ska is probably slightly better on balance due to its historical value, the release of that live set (Stretching Out) is more coherent and is their best album that was recorded as an album.
[Read More]Been a little while since we’ve had any Canadian punk! I’ve missed it! They’re from Vancouver, it’s lovely to have some singing not from a dude, and the guitar work is righteous.
Yeah! More punk! Seattle is basically in southern Canada, I’m going to count it. The live stuff is inessential, but I’ll take any Sicko material I can get.
[Read More]Before he became the best mashup artist around with Night Ripper, Greg Gillis was much more into noise. Yeah, you still have bits and pieces of recognizable songs floating in and out, but this stuff has much more in common with experimental artists like Negativland than it does with the kaleidoscope of party music that he would later create. In other words, don’t go back further than Night Ripper and expect to find more stuff like that.
[Read More]Guest Alec Empire here was a big thing for a hot minute back in, what, 1996 or so. Critics feigned interest in his noisy, overdriven form of techno for a while, but that quickly passed. It lasted long enough for him to pop up in a few places, including on the iffiest track on the first Handsome Boy Modeling School album.
So, if he’s going to wear her to the ball, and he wants her to put on a dress, he…wants to wear a dress? I think that’s what we’re looking at here. Go for it, Dan Vitale! Nobody is going to mind!
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